Slitherine

quote:

Sexton Self-Propelled Gun:

In 1942 a number of British artillery units in the Middle East were equipped with the American Priest 105mm (4.13-in) self-propelled Howitzers. While this was an excellent weapon, the 105mm round was not a standard British calibre and thus required special supply arrangements. It was obvious that if the Priest could be fitted with a 25-pdr gun, supply would be much easier. Although the Americans happy to produce a prototype they were not prepared to devote resource for their war effort, for something which they would not use, as they were not intending to adopt the 25-pdr as a standard US weapon. Thus the British requested that a similar design be built in Canada, using the chassis of the RAM tank then in production, which did in fact use components of the US M3 medium tank.

The first 124 vehicles produced were designated Sexton I and can be distinguished by the tapering rear deck. The later Sexton II has a vertical box at each rear corner, one of, which contained the vehicle batteries and the other an auxiliary generator for charging them.